Actua BD quotes an article from last Friday’s Charente Libre, telling that the new Comics Museum in Angoulème will not be ready in time for the next festival in January, but rather will only open its doors for the public in June. As work on the building will not be finished until the end of this year, the CIBDI (The International City for Comics and the Image) will not have enough time to set up the permanent or even temporary exhibitions. Visitors to the festival will have to make do with the Temporary Museum as before.
According to CIBDI director Gilles Ciment, opening late may even be a postive thing, as it focuses the attention of the comics world on Angoulème right in between two editions of the festival. That way, the opening of the museum, and the fusion of the Maison des Auteurs and the Centre National de la Bande Dessinée et de l’Image will be an event in itself.
Actua BD cheekily adds that the footbridge which will connect Angoulème with the Museum on the other bank of the Charente river, is already finished, but will have to be rebuilt, as it will not be able to carry the vehicles used by the city’s fire brigade… The first exhibition has already been announced, and will focus on the relation between French novelist Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (particularly famous for The Little Prince, still a solid international seller) and the comics that adapted his works.
Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and when not trying to fathom the practicality of making a comics anthology printed on Belgian lace writes extensively on comics culture and art; you can read more of his work on his own Ephemerist blog.
Tue, Aug 5, 2008
Art and animation, Comics and cartoons, Conventions and events, From our Continental Correspondent